1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to improved graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and in particular to a method and system for automatically altering the speed of movement of a mouse pointer or other graphical pointer in response to a display of a particular web page or display window. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for analyzing the content of a particular web page or the user""s prior experience with a particular web page or display window to automatically determine an optimum movement speed for a graphical pointer.
2. Description of the Related Art
The development of computerized distributed information resources, such as the xe2x80x9cInternet,xe2x80x9d allows users to link with servers and networks, and thus retrieve vast amounts of electronic information heretofore unavailable in an electronic medium. Such electronic information is increasingly displacing more conventional means of information transmission, such as newspapers, magazines, and even television. The term xe2x80x9cInternetxe2x80x9d is an abbreviation for xe2x80x9cInternetworkxe2x80x9d and refers commonly to a collection of computer networks which utilize the TCP/IP suite of protocols, well-known in the art of computer networking. TCP/IP is an acronym for xe2x80x9cTransport Control Protocol/Interface Program,xe2x80x9d a software protocol developed by the Department of Defense for facilitating communication between computers.
Electronic information transferred between computer networks (e.g. the Internet) can be presented to a user in hypertext, a metaphor for presenting information in a manner in which text, images, sounds, and actions become linked together in a complex non-sequential web of associations that permit a user to xe2x80x9cbrowsexe2x80x9d through related topics, regardless of the presented order of the topics. These links are often established by both the author of the hypertext document and by the user, depending on the intent of the hypertext document. For example, traveling among links to the word xe2x80x9cironxe2x80x9d in an article displayed within a graphical user interface in a computer system might lead the user to a periodic table of the chemical elements (i.e. linked by the word xe2x80x9cironxe2x80x9d), or to a reference to the use of iron in weapons in Europe in the Dark Ages. The term xe2x80x9chypertextxe2x80x9d is utilized to describe documents, as presented by a computer, that express a non-linear""s structure of ideas, as opposed to linear format of books, film and speech.
Hypertext, especially in an interactive format where choices are controlled by the user, is structured around the idea of offering a working and learning environment that parallels human thinking, that is, an environment that allows the user to make associations between topics rather than moving sequentially from one topic to the next, as in an alphabetic list. Hypertext topics are linked in a manner that allows users to jump from one subject to another related subject during a search for information by selection of the hypertext link utilizing a graphical pointer, such as a mouse pointer.
A xe2x80x9cweb pagexe2x80x9d (also referred to by some designers simply as a xe2x80x9cpagexe2x80x9d) is a data file written in a hypertext language that may have text, graphic images, and even multimedia objects such as sound recordings or moving video clips associated with that data file. The web page can be displayed as a viewable object within a window in a computer system. A viewable object can contain one or more components such as spreadsheets, text, hot links, pictures, sound and video objects. A web page is typically constructed by loading one or more separate files into an active directly or file structure that is displayed as a viewable object within a graphical user interface.
As various xe2x80x9cweb sitesxe2x80x9d are visited via hypertext links displayed within a web browser, URLs (Universal Resource Locators) representative of the web sites visited during a given web navigation system or typically recorded by the web browser. Because web sites tend to proliferate over time, a user searching for a particular or important web site can find it difficult to find those particular or important web sites. Additionally, the selection utilizing a graphical or mouse pointer of various hyperlinks within a web site may result in navigation through existing web sites to a web site not previously visited. Consequently, it must be appreciated that rapid and accurate manipulation of a graphical pointer, such as a mouse pointer, is an important feature of modern internet navigation.
Most modern computer systems utilize a graphical pointer, such as a mouse, which permits the user to vary the speed of movement of a graphical pointer to meet their particular needs. Thus, most experienced users prefer a graphical pointer which moves at a relatively rapid speed, while the young and elderly often select a slower graphical pointer speed in order to accurately be able to position the mouse pointer over small targets which exist in today""s window interfaces. Additionally, elderly users frequently have poor vision and consequently sites designed for the elderly tend to use larger than average fonts and larger icons. However, despite the combination of larger screens, font sizes and web pages, many elderly users are not as dexterous as they were when younger and controllable graphical pointer speeds are therefore an important function for usability within the internet system.
However, as noted above, the complexity and display parameters for internet display screens can vary dramatically and a single selected speed of operation for a mouse or graphical pointer can decrease the usability of a graphical user interface.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved graphical user interface.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and system for automatically altering the speed of movement of a mouse pointer or other graphical pointer in response to a display of a particular web page or display window.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method and system for analyzing the content of a particular web page or the prior experience of a user with a particular web page or display window to automatically determine an optimal movement speed for a graphical pointer within that web page or display window.
The foregoing objects are achieved as is now described. A method and system are provided for selectively controlling mouse movement speed during movement within a particular web page or display window based upon a user""s prior experience with that web page or various physical parameters associated with the size and content of the web page. A user""s previous experience or the relative size, number and location of selectable icons or links within the display are determined and utilized to automatically alter the speed of mouse pointer movement. Prior experience with web pages having similar content can also be utilized to automatically adjust the speed of the mouse pointer.